Returning to Bad Wolf Bay
by CompanionRose
Summary: When Eleven has to land the TARDIS immediately, he has to deal with something he's not quite prepared for.


This story goes with a gifset off of tumblr.

ladyponds. tumblr post/28923345736

I don't own the gifs, OR Doctor Who. All rights go to their respective owners.

She spent most of her days there, watching the water and the skies. Her mother told her it wasn't good for her, but she didn't even pretend to listen. How could she stay away from that place, from the last place she saw him? Her Doctor? Sometimes she brought books to read but usually she would just sit there and strain her ears, hoping beyond reason that she would hear that beautiful sound she loved so much, praying that shimmer on the horizon was more than just a trick of the eyes. She never did though, never heard anything close to it, never saw that box of the bluest blue again. Until one day.

She had been standing on the rocks watching the water stretch into the nothingness where it met the sky when she heard it. She searched the beach frantically, looking for that damned blue box and praying it wasn't a dream when she saw it, just over there, that box that still had hold of her heart. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her while her heart swelled so much she would have sworn it was about to burst. Then she saw the man standing outside of the TARDIS, she nearly called out her voice caught in her throat. Because the man who stood in front of that wonderful TARDIS was not her Doctor with his great hair and brown suit and old, worn-out shoes. No, this man had on suspenders and a bowtie and had goofy looking hair. She called out in a rush "Doctor?"

The man looked her way, confirming her worst fears. Rose walked closer anyways though because even with his different face, he was still the Doctor, still the man she had traveled to the ends of the Earth with. "You're so different" she whispered, nearly crying.

He smiled ruefully as that goofy hair flopped into his eyes. "I most certainly am." Now he was the one on the verge of tears as he whispered "How'd you know it was me?" Rose nearly smiled, wanting to just joke and say something clever, but knowing she couldn't.

"TARDIS gives it away," she said and then the tears came. Streaming down her face as she looked at him, at this man that was her Doctor, who still is her Doctor in some ways, and she imagined him regenerating and wanted to know if he was alone when it happened and if he was scared but instead of asking any of that she sobs out the one thing she's been wanting to say since he last left her and went off with Donna.

"He's still not you."

The Doctor looked like his hearts were breaking as he took in this girl, his pink and yellow girl, crying in front of him. He remembers all of the times they had together, the Olympics in 2012 where she saved that girl and her mum all on her own, and then their first date, when they watched the Earth die and had chips, and finally when she crossed through worlds to see him one last time. And he opens his arms and she just falls into him even though his arms are too long and he's too tall and he doesn't smell the same, because he's still her Doctor in there, somewhere. He's solid and she can't help but remember when he first left her here and she couldn't even touch him and she cries even more. They stay that way for a long time, hurting in the best way possible until the TARDIS makes that noise that means it's charged up and Rose looks up with this heartbroken expression because she knows that means he's leaving again. She grabs at him tighter and begs him not to leave her but he just looks down at her sadly.

"Rose, I have to. I wasn't even supposed to come in the first place, but this was the only place that would allow for her to charge properly. Oh, Rose, I got to meet her, my TARDIS! She was a woman and she was beautiful and you would have loved her, she was so…. brilliant!" He says in his new, childish way, the word sounding wrong coming from his mouth to both of them. He looks at her from under his lashes and says "You would have loved her, Rose. And you would have loved them, too. Amy and Rory, they're my new…. were my new companions." Then he's walking away to his TARDIS, because even in this form he's rubbish at goodbyes and remembering Amy and Rory he knows this goodbye is coming soon and Rose is is companion to him because he can't leave her like that again.

"Doctor! I just… I wanted to tell you…. I mean, I never got a chance to say it last time." And she looks at him so sadly that his hearts skip a beat and then she's crying again. "I just want to say goodbye. And I hope you're new companions are just as amazing as Donna and Martha were and I hope you're happy."

Now he really is crying, those humany-wumany tears falling fast. Looking up at her through the tears he says something he vowed he would never have to say to Rose, because they were supposed to be together forever. "Goodbye, Rose Tyler." Then he closes the door and quickly walks to the console and starts messing with this button and that knob, tweaking this lever just a fraction, until she starts making that bittersweet departing noise. He finally falls to his knees as sobs shake his whole body and the words spill from his mouth before he can stop them. "I miss you."

Back on Bad Wolf Bay, Rose Tyler sinks to her knees, too. Her hands cover her face as she screams for him to come back, and please don't leave like this again and no, he's just NOT you and then the tears can't come anymore and she stands up. Looking back where the Police Box had been, she says what she forgot to tell him.

"Doctor, I miss you."


End file.
